Week Two

It's the end of a rather long week, thank goodness for my planner! I've opted for complimenting themes in my planners this week.

My saffiano has thin gold tape from paperchase, with Hobbycraft twinkle and shine tapes. The glittery hole protectors are from Heidi Swapp which I purchased on Amazon. The stickers are a combination of Heidi Swapp and Me and My Big Ideas.

My color crush however is a bit simpler, with Hobbycraft tapes and Heidi Swapp stickers.

As you can see I'm still loving gold to match my gold planners and am really enjoying making the most of these beauties! 

Gift wrap Dashboards

It's no secret I'm a massive fan of all things Paperchase, so it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that I bought my Christmas paper from there this year. It's beautiful and I can't wait to give the carefully wrapped presents under the tree to my family... There might even be an effort to convert a family member or two to the ways of planner addiction.

I had one problem though, there were offcuts of beautiful paper and no more gifts to wrap. I'm too much of a hoarder to throw them away, so I did what comes naturally to a planner girl; I laminated and made dashboards from them.

I just couldn't resist, I mean look at them! 

As foiled paper, added with the lamination, these were quite tricky to photograph well and the picture really doesn't do them justice. It's so beautiful though, I love how there's a range of deer heads!

I have a bit of a thing about penguins, my brother even adopted one for me last Christmas. I couldn't resist these sweet little guys and their cute colourful scarves.

Finally my favourite, the sprouts! I've got Christmas baubles and sticky tape to match, I love this one so much! 

One thing is for certain, in going to be whipping out the planner every chance I get to show these off this Christmas. 

Gold Color Crush

Gold! You are gold! Sorry, I couldn't resist a little Spandau Ballet there; I've been humming it all morning!

My new planner has arrived just in time for Christmas and it couldn't be more beautiful. I've wanted one of these for ages, but every time I tried it was out of stock.

Now that it's here, I couldn't resist decorating it and adding a festive theme. I even decorated weeks that have already been just so I can make the most of it. 

I've even bought some Hema tapes with Christmas themes to match my next few weeks. I added Christmas stickers and paperclips from Paperchase. 

I love these little countdown stickers, aren't they sweet! I can't wait for the next two weeks, especially now I have this bad boy! 

What's in my school bag

As a teacher, my bag is full of planner goodies and stationery stash so I thought I'd give you a peek inside.

For school I use my Radley satchel, I love the luggage print and brown leather plus it's just the right size for all my school needs.

Pardoning my Pixie cat who's attempting to sit on some sticky notes, this is everything I need.

Firstly not one but two planners: the owl one is from Paperchase. The wirebound planner is provided by my school, both are A5 size. I also have a Mambi list pad, they're the perfect size to slot inside my planner as I'm always making lists of things I need to do.

There are if course an assortment of sticky notes and page flags of all shapes, colours and sizes. I don't honestly think I could function without these!

I also have a list book and unicorn sticky notes from Paperchase tucked away in my bag. I love the sparkly cover and couldn't resist these! 

I also have an assortment of pens (my current favourite being a flag pen I bought from the post it notes website last year) as well as my other essentials: glasses, hand cream and hand gel. Currently I'm working with cherry flavour! 

Week Thirty Eight

Wow, it was back to school this week and what a busy week it's been! I'm very lucky to have a job I love, but I was glad to sit down with my planners and washi to plan next week.

I've opted for complimentary themes this week, although the decoration is minorly different in my planners.

I really fancied a monochrome week and love the effect created by these tapes from ikea and Hobbycraft. It's not an overly busy week this week, so my planner looks a bit blank at the moment.

I switched one of the Hobbycraft tapes for paperchase ones in my personal size. Again I really like the effect created, I love that mushroom tape from paperchase. Somehow even in the smaller boxes, my planner just looks a bit empty this week.

Well wherever you are and whatever you're doing, I hope you have a good week!

What's in my Trip Bag

The trip is sadly over so I thought I'd give you a sneak peek of what's in my bag. For park trips I always use my trusty Jack Skellington bag, he heralded from the realms of Disneyland Paris a few years ago, now he comes back every time.

I've got everything I need in this bag and it's comfortable to carry too, so let's dive in. 

Firstly is my fold up mack. The weather can be unpredictable in Paris so I always carry a waterproof just in case. This Olaf one came from Primark and is summery and fun. It folds up small and is nice and light to make it practical for carrying around in the park. 

I have my polka dot planner, which came from Paperchase. It contains all of my trip information and has begun to feel a little like my right hand! I've also from Paperchase included a rainbow paper pad. You never know when you're going to need to write something down so carrying extra paper for me is a must.

Journaling cards to put in my planner or capture memories are from Simple Stories. This is the Say Cheese range. There is a huge selection available online, I bought mine through Amazon. 

My pen is a park souvenir, I couldn't resist the Minnie Mouse shaped pen and I hope to add to my collection on this trip. I've also got a small stash of washi tape, just in case of emergency.

Not so essentially but certainly, handy is my tape corrector. I love how he is shaped like a penguin to give a fun feel. He came from WH Smiths. The bunny from Paperchase is a hole punch, should I need to attach anything to my planner.

My Hogwarts pouch, also from Primark keeps everything stationery wise together. This protects my supplies from getting damaged and looks cute. It's a good size so holds a lot.

From a more practical point of view, I've also got sun cream and sunglasses in case it does turn out to be hot. I use kids factor 50 as I find anything strong enough difficult to get hold of. I need a high factor as I burn very easily and banana boat seems to cut it.

I also take my reading glasses with me, I'm hopeless without them. My purse was a gift from my parents at Christmas, I use it to keep a small amount of euros which are my planner money. I use these to buy knick knacks like sticky notes and pens so I can get these things without worrying about how it impacts on finances for the rest of the trip.

I also include a few vanities in my bag. I always have a bottle of hand gel, especially for somewhere like a park. Although we wash our hands regularly, bugs are easily spread in places like this so I don't like to take risks. 

I also have a small tube of hand cream. My hands get dry easily so I like to look after them. This particular cream is from Tesco, it's their own version of Soap and Glory. The smell is subtle but pleasant and the texture's nice.

I have a lip balm, I usually opt for Burt's Bees and nail polish. This week I'm wearing this red number from Bourjois. It's pretty hard wearing and doesn't chip easily, but I like to be prepared for any reapplications that may be necessary.

I also have a bottle of DKNY. I love the smell and it's nice to be able to have a spritz if I need it. I also love that the bottle is shaped like an apple, it just seems appropriate somehow.

So that's my trip bag, I hope you've enjoyed! 

Using a planner correctly?

Whilst having lunch with some girlfriends recently, talk turned to keeping ourselves organised and how we use planners. My friend cooed over my Filofax before complaining that she loved planners but didn't think she would use one right.

When I got home that evening, this really got me thinking. Is there such a thing as a right way to use a planner? 

With a multi planner system on the go, I would argue there is no hard and fast rule about how to use a planner. It's all about what works for you. A planner is a deeply personal thing, by the time you have it in your hands you've already chosen colour, size, style based on need and taste, so why would what goes inside be any different?

I use separate planners for work because I want to keep my home and work life separate. There are some people who can't abide a multi planner system, but personally I need the compartmentalisation. 

I also use a Filofax as a reading journal, again, I could choose to have a book section in my planner but I like doing it this way. I know of some people who break their planner use down even more with reading, exercise, dream journals, housekeeping all being managed in separate planners. This isn't right or wrong. It's what works for them.

For my personal life I have two planners, one on the desk and one in my bag. I also decorate my pages, I find it quite cathartic. This isn't everyone's cup of tea, for some my pages are too busy and difficult to keep track of my schedule.

One thing I'm certain of, there is no right or wrong way to use a planner so long as it works for you and more importantly so long as you use it. Everything else is just details.

Week Twenty Eight

This week is a very special week for me as it marks 5 years since my first date with Mr S. Naturally this means I've gone with a bit of a theme across my planners.

In my fluoro I've opted for pink tapes which came from ikea. For me they were just the right amount of fun and soppy. As the tape is quite bold I felt I didn't need stickers this week.

I did however add a journalling card and book mark. The journalling card is by Websters Pages and will find it's way into the love letters I write after this week. The bookmark is from Paperchase and is perfect for finding my page.

My color crush is similar, using pink lovey dovey tapes, however the stars and music are from Hema and the hearts is from Hobbycraft.

The butterfly paperclip is from Sainsburys, Mr S picked them up for me as he knew I'd love them.

Wherever you are and whatever you're doing, I hope you have a great week! 

Week Twenty-Four

I've opted for a nice healthy themed week in both planners this week. Although there's a theme across both planners, I've used different colours and tapes too.

It's a rather quiet week this week, which should give me plenty of time to prepare supplies for my work planner this week: everything is all laid out ready! 

My A5 has Paperchase tapes and matching sticky notes. I thought the mushrooms were jellyfish initially, and as such they really makes me smile.

My websters planner is a bit more colourful, with some washi Mr S bought me. I'm totally loving this planner, now I've had a chance to play with it for a bit I'll be able to do a post on it.

Whatever you're doing, have a good week doing it! 

Filling my planner with smiles

You've probably been told it takes more muscles to frown than smile. Smiling a about more than potentially getting a few wrinkles though. I'd quite happily have a lined face if it meant I'd laughed lots. It's important to remember to smile. 

Smiling makes us (well me anyway) feel good. Life can be hard sometimes. So hard. Planners help with that: they let me know where I need to be and what I need to be doing. Appointments, meetings, schedules,  TV... It all goes in the planner. Just having everything I need in one place makes me feel better.

It's why I always make sure I put things that make me smile in my planner. It might be the dividers I use, or the dashboards I've made. It might be a cute quote on a postcard or journaling card. It may even be the washi tape or post-it's I've used. But it will be there. 

I love this little quote and to be honest it's more of a goal than anything. I'm very good at forgetting to focus on the positive. This reminds me that I should.

This is one of my new personal size dividers and by far my favourite. It's important to have dreams and goals, no matter what they are.

This is my absolute favourite journalling card. I know it may not be much to look at but I carry this one with me everywhere. As I said, sometimes I can be a bit of a pessimist, but this card has yet to be wrong!

I love the way my paperclip compliments my card here. You can see my favourite tucked away in the pocket there. As my A5 is bigger I have a quote in the front as well as on my dashboard. You may have noticed I have a thing for quotes at the moment.

Quirky paper makes me smile too. I love Alice in Wonderland and will sneak her in wherever I can. I've just bought some stuff to make Alice themed dividers so keep your eyes peeled!

Never stop trying to fulfil your dreams. This I feel is pretty important to me. My dreams are pretty simplistic: family, happiness, masters, but I never stop trying to fulfil them. Plus that postcard is super pretty, I love Paperchase.

Sometimes I clip quotes and things to my  week, or even swap them out mid-week depending on my mood and how my week is going. 

How about you, does your planner give you something to smile about? 

Week Thirteen

Well this year is certainly flying by and Mr S has had me in the holiday mood this weekend so I've opted for a summery jungle theme in both planners as a result.

I love this tropical tape from Paperchase and it was so colourful I really didn't feel that I needed stickers. 

I've added in this cute lion though, as I didn't quite feel the pages would be complete without the king of the jungle.

I used some of my new paperclips to mark my page, trying to pick out some of the colours from the tape.

I carried the theme on in my personal. I'm completely in love with the feather tape which you can see at the top and bottom of the page.

I opted for some more cheerful paperclips and a little bit of sparkle. These bright colours are sure to keep me smiling all week though.

Wherever you are and whatever you're doing I hope you have a good week!

New Work Planner

For some time now I've had my eye on a springy and fresh filofax to switch out to for work. Although I love my domino, the red is a little dark. I'd been umming and ahhing between two particular planners, that is until I went to Paperchase.

My main planner is a Paperchase one, and I love my tweed dearly. It was love at first sight with this one too. 

I love the fresh blue colour and the contrast of the yellow elastic. I wasn't too sure on the owls to start with but soon decided that actually I love them. I opted for an A5 again so I can just transfer the inserts over and as an added bonus it has 2016 pages which I can put away for my tweed.

She's got a lovely selection of pockets for me to tuck all my bits and bobs into and carries on that lovely colour inside.

There's a notepad and pen loop at the back which is always handy. My only complaint would be that there is only one pen loop instead of the two my domino offers, but this isn't a deal breaker.

I'm going to save the 2016 one of these for tweed but there's a 2015 which will be perfect for adding to my work planner to enhance it further. 

I got a few other bits for my butterfly from Paperchase too, but I'm waiting for a few bits to arrive from Amazon first before I share those with you. Keep your eyes peeled! 

Week Eleven

My week feels busier than it looks this week so I've gone for matching themes in both planners. It's ended up rather pink so I added pink stickers just to put the icing on the cake, using some sweet ones I bought from paperchase. 

As our kittens have arrived, I opted for kitty themed washi and stickers, using both aristocrats and hello kitty. This started the pink theme off which I then added to with some skinny pink washi.

I decided to add cat themed paperclips this week too, although I'm not sure they're too durable as they're made using paper toppers. 

I hope you're having a good week whatever you are doing!